Nvidia's virtual GeForce 8800 GTX unboxing demo hasn't gone down well

Date:
Thu, 05 Nov 2026 17:29:23 +0000

Description:
'An RTX 5080 for an unboxing simulator? They are just laughing in our faces'

FULL STORY ======================================================================Copy link Facebook X Whatsapp Reddit Pinterest Flipboard Threads Email Share this article 0 Join the conversation Follow us Add us as a preferred source on Google Newsletter Subscribe to our newsletter Nvidia has a new interactive demo out on Steam It offers a virtual unboxing of a GeForce 8800 GTX but you need an RTX 4070 to run it, and the recommended GPU is an RTX 5080 Some
gamers feel that it's a 'slap in the face' for several reasons Can't afford a new GPU thanks to the ever-worsening RAM crisis ? Well, Nvidia wants to take you back to the days when a graphics card didn't destroy your bank balance, courtesy of a new demo on Steam where you get to unbox and install a GeForce GPU from 2006.

The Verge spotted the interactive demo entitled 'GeForce 8800 GTX 20 Years of a Legend' which can be grabbed for free on Steam . It was developed by Dylan Browne, an Unreal Engine artist who was commissioned by Nvidia, and the demo is rendered in Unreal Engine (unsurprisingly). The idea is that you can: "Step into a 2006-era PC gaming room, unbox the GeForce 8800 GTX, inspect it up close, and install it in an era-accurate PC tower." Latest Videos From TechRadar Watch full video here:

On the face of it, that's a rather fun idea and it's smartly implemented to be fair, including revisiting Windows Vista on a CRT monitor but if you
start to think about it more deeply, this exercise seems more than a little tone deaf in the current PC components climate.

Have a watch of Nvidia's illustrative clip below first off, before we move on to discuss this one. You may like As Nvidia's RTX 5090 seemingly disappears, I'm worried about GeForce GPUs Rumored RTX 5080 Super is delayed, while GPU prices are rocketing upwards RTX 5090s are going for as much as $9000, as AI server builders reportedly buy Nvidia's flagship by the pallet, but the
photos behind the story may be AI-generated GeForce 8800 GTX - 20 Years of a Legend - YouTube Watch On Analysis: ragebait, greed, and a lot of other accusations from gamers One of the most obvious sticking points here is the requirements to run this demo. What Nvidia GPU will you need to take part in
a virtual unboxing? Here's a clue: it certainly won't run on a GeForce 8800 GTX. In fact you'll need an RTX 4070 at the minimum, and the recommended GPU as per the Steam specs is a wait for it RTX 5080. (You must have 32GB of RAM, as well, at minimum).

And this comes at a time when the RAM crisis has made that RTX 5080 soar in price to over double its MSRP in the US, and with hefty inflation evident in all countries (over 50% in the UK for example). Don't even start with the RTX 5090, and as we've seen, even lower-end graphics cards are being hit hard
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As one Redditor put it neatly (with the swearing removed): "A 5080 for an unboxing simulator. They are just laughing in our faces."

Another in that thread replies to say: "Ragebait? You are not able to afford
a real graphics card here, take this virtual one?"

Speaking of rage, there's quite an outpouring of it in the comments for Nvidia's YouTube video (the one embedded above), such as: "Great job, today consumers have no chance to be able to afford new high end gaming video cards in favor of greed and AI money. A 5090 is $10-15k, and a 5080 is $2k or more it's a slap in the face to post this tbh." What to read next You can't currently order a Tinybox with Nvidia GPUs and Tiny Corp's new 192GB six-GPU AMD build just got $3,000 pricier Is the GPU crisis down to real shortages,
or is it market manipulation? Rumors continue to fly about Nvidia's RTX 5090 GPU stock shortages

Nvidia has a clear priority for AI, data centers and profits over consumers and gaming GPUs and it's a business, that's where the money lies, we get that. Shareholders for-the-win and so forth, but given that, the thoughtlessness of this little PR nugget is pretty staggering really.

What sort of reaction did Nvidia expect it would get? Okay, there are some Redditors reminiscing about the good old days of 2006, and the 8800 GTX that they owned. However, many more are simply bitter (or indeed incandescent)
that Nvidia appears to be reminding us of better times, having done a good deal to cause the GPU pricing pain which is now prevalent thanks to chasing
AI profits . While asking for a high-end, now ridiculously expensive, Blackwell GPU to run the demo (at the recommended level).

The GeForce 8800 GTX was $599 as a top-end monster GPU when it arrived, and
if you want an RTX 5090 these days, you'll pay over 15x that amount. I would think that Nvidia would want to do anything but take a nostalgic trip back to the days of relatively affordable high-end graphics cards at this point in time.

Maybe Team Green should have saved this one for the card's 25th anniversary. Will the RAM crisis be over by then? Follow TechRadar on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our expert news, reviews, and opinion in your feeds. The best graphics cards for all budgets Our top picks, based on real-world testing and comparisons

Read our full guide to the best graphics card 1. Best overall: AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT 2. Best budget: Intel Arc B580 3. Best Nvidia: Nvidia RTX 5070 Ti 4. Best AMD: AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX



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Link to news story: https://www.techradar.com/computing/gpu/nvidias-new-steam-demo-lets-you-virtua lly-install-a-geforce-8800-gtx-in-a-windows-vista-pc-but-it-has-enraged-many-g amers


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